NYC plastic surgeon Dr. Lara Devgan has launched her own line of skin care products. Prices range from $65 to a whopping $300.

Skinskool is a website that finds dupes for skin care products, based on an ingredient-based product discovery algorithm, which it calls the Dupe Finder. The algorithm returns results that reveal which products are most alike, based on ingredients. This is represented by its Match Score.

Given that prestige retailers such as Sephora, Violet Grey, and NET‑A‑PORTER carry Dr. Lara Devgan’s skincare line, Skinskool was stunned that almost every product in the line has a 98% – 100% Match Score comparable to products selling at a fraction of the price.

Skinskool opines that Dr. Lara Devgan beauty is likely a private label line with customized packaging. As Kat noted, It is far easier to customize skin care or hair care products than lip liners or pencils and the like.

Skinskool stated that:

Many doctor’s offices or estheticians have their own brands, but it’s rare to see a private label line marketed so aggressively and at more than 3X the price of comparable products.

Skinskool asks:

What do you think? Does this affect your opinion of the brand? Of the retailers? Should this have been caught by someone before it hit the shelves of Sephora? Or do you think that Sephora could care less because if consumers buy what is marketed to them, it’s on us?

My take:

Many prestigious skin care lines are way overpriced. I’m more or less satisfied with drugstore skin care (Olay, CeraVe, La Roche-Posay, the latter for its range of sunscreens) and The Ordinary. Sephora, Violet Gray, and NET‑A‑PORTER could care less if consumers buy what is marketed to them: after all, it’s more money for them.